Palin to ‘Lip Sync’ Future Speeches Says Aide Palin to ‘Lip Sync’ Future Speeches Says Aide By E.T. Mandible Nashville Journal-Advertiser February 8, 2010 Exclusive to the Journal-Advertiser NASHVILLE – In the wake of her speech last Saturday to the Tea Party convention held here, an aide to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told this reporter that her future speeches would be lip-synched. (Lip-synching is a technique where […]
It Takes a Village to Raise a Racist Researches have found that kids don’t necessarily get their prejudice from their parents — it is the community that fosters tolerance or prejudice.
Researches have found that kids don't necessarily get their prejudice from their parents — it is the community that fosters tolerance or prejudice.
Squeezing Intel Out of Terrorists As a companion piece to Matt Yglesias’ ontology of Miranda rights, I want to look at the underlying first-order basis of the intelligence obtained from terrorists in custody. Very simple: they give it to us. Obviously they don’t do so…
Why The Ethan Bronner Case Matters The story this far is that the New York Times is seriously on the defensive because the son of its Israel correspondent, Ethan Bronner, joined the Israeli army. In the end, the Bronner story is not that significant. He will…
Bachmann?s Plan: To Deal With Debt, We Must ?Wean Everybody? Off Social Security, Medicare This past weekend, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) addressed the right-wing Constitutional Coalition’s annual conference in St. Louis. She had dropped out of the Tea Party Convention occurring on the same day in Nashville to make the appearance. Speaking to a small group of conference attendees and ThinkProgress during lunch on Saturday, Bachmann outlined how the […]
This past weekend, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) addressed the right-wing Constitutional Coalition’s annual conference in St. Louis. She had dropped out of the Tea Party Convention occurring on the same day in Nashville to make the appearance.
Speaking to a small group of conference attendees and ThinkProgress during lunch on Saturday, Bachmann outlined how the Republican Party and its 2012 nominee must address the national debt. Bachmann referenced Glenn Beck, who falsely warned about a $107 trillion in supposed “unfunded liabilities” from Social Security and Medicare. She then called for a “reorganization” of entitlements where people “already in the system” would continue to receive benefits, but “everybody else” would be weaned off:
BACHMANN: Is the country too big to fail? No, the country can fail. We can, we’re not invincible. And we’re so close now to being at that point because the thing is, as Glenn Beck said last night, it is true. The $107 trillion that he put on the board. We’re $14 trillion in debt, but that doesn’t include the unfunded massive liabilities. That’s $107 trillion, and that’s for Social Security and Medicare and all the rest. You add up all those unfunded net liabilities, and all the traps that could go wrong we’re on the hook for, and what it means is what we have to do is a reorganization of all of that, Social Security and all. We have to do it simply because we can’t let the contract remain as they are because the older people are going to lose. So, what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system, that don’t have any other options, we have to keep faith with them. But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off. And wean everybody off because we have to take those unfunded net liabilities off our bank sheet, we can’t do it. So we just have to be straight with people. So basically, whoever our nominee is, is going to have to have a Glenn Beck chalkboard and explain to everybody this is the way it is.
Bachmann is echoing a growing chorus in the GOP caucus. Recently, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) introduced an alternative budget plan which would privatize both Medicare and Social Security. As the Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo has noted, the type of private Social Security accounts Ryan proposes would have cost seniors tens of thousands of dollars in the 2008-2009 market plunge. But Bachmann takes Ryan’s effort a step farther and seems to be suggesting a full repeal of the retirement safety net.
Bachmann, who has gained influence within Republican leadership circles, was a star at the event. At his speech on Friday, Glenn Beck proclaimed that Bachmann was the only person he trusted in Congress. Other accolades for Bachmann were heard throughout the conference. At one point, Heritage Foundation scholar Matt Spalding, who had been whispering in Bachmann’s ear while other panelists spoke, exclaimed, “if there’s one person who everyone at Heritage has a crush on, it’s Michele Bachmann.”
MSNBC?s Andrea Mitchell Mocks Sarah Palin By Writing ?Cheat Sheet? On Her Hand On MSNBC’s Daily Rundown this morning, Andrea Mitchell reported that “one of the most interesting things” from Sarah Palin’s appearance at the Tea Party Convention this past weekend was the notes written on her hand. “Very clearly,” Mitchell observed, “were some cheat sheets.” Mitchell then mocked Palin by displaying her own hand, which had some […]
On MSNBC’s Daily Rundown this morning, Andrea Mitchell reported that “one of the most interesting things” from Sarah Palin’s appearance at the Tea Party Convention this past weekend was the notes written on her hand. “Very clearly,” Mitchell observed, “were some cheat sheets.”
Mitchell then mocked Palin by displaying her own hand, which had some handwriting on it. Holding up her hand for the camera, Mitchell joked that she wrote some things down “just in case I didn’t remember” what she wanted to say:
Mitchell’s joke then segued into an interesting conversation about the press corps’ treatment of Palin. Host Chuck Todd — seemingly wary of taking a jab at Palin — attempted to defend her by arguing, “We’ve all done notes.” Mitchell responded by astutely noting Palin’s hypocrisy in attacking Obama for using a Teleprompter. “So she takes all these snarky shots at Barack Obama,” Mitchell said, leaving Todd to complete the sentence, “she undermined it a little bit.”
“If Mitt Romney had notes on his hand, wouldn’t we take it pretty seriously?” Mitchell asked. Todd responded, “She has different rules.” Watch the segment:
McDonnell directing more education money to N.Va. RICHMOND — In one of his first decisions on the state’s two-year budget, Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell sided with Northern Virginia, the vote-rich region that helped him secure his landslide victory in November, by sending it more school dollars.
The Fix: White House moves to make the filibuster a campaign issue Over the past week, President Obama and his senior aides have repeatedly cited Republicans’ filibuster threats as the primary reason for the lack of progress on big ticket legislative items, an early sign that Democrats will seek to use this bit of legislative arcana against the GOP in the coming…
Va. Senate passes anti-discrimination bill for state workers RICHMOND The Virginia Senate passed a bill Monday that would make it illegal to discriminate in the state workforce, including on the basis of sexual orientation, marking the first time such legislation has passed either chamber of the Virginia General Assembly.
Bad Dog Food for the Democrats J.C. Watts, Las Vegas Review-Journal Just as we saw in the last 21/2 years of the Bush administration, the Obama administration obviously has listened to respond, rather than listening to hear. The president dismisses his lack of success by claiming he has not communicated his message enough. Really? I don't care how many news conferences you have, how many speeches you give, or how much money you spend on public relations, if the dog food is bad, the dogs won't eat it.The American people are unhappy with the direction of the country. They have a deep antipathy toward the federal government's activism, and they…
The Terror-Industrial Complex The conviction of the Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui in New York last week of trying to kill American military officers and FBI agents illustrates that the greatest danger to our security does not come from al-Qaida but the thousands of shadowy mercenaries, kidnappers, killers and torturers our government employs around the globe.
By Chris Hedges
The conviction of the Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui in New York last week of trying to kill American military officers and FBI agents illustrates that the greatest danger to our security does not come from al-Qaida but the thousands of shadowy mercenaries, kidnappers, killers and torturers our government employs around the globe.
The Hollywood Liberal is an anti-war, anti republican, from right here beautiful Hollywood California.
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This past weekend, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) addressed the right-wing Constitutional Coalition’s annual conference in St. Louis. She had dropped out of the Tea Party Convention occurring on the same day in Nashville to make the appearance. 
